Upgrading Air Intake System - Anyone tried velocity stacks?

[Andrew AU]

Hi everyone,

Im the owner of a 1998 Ford Festiva (US. Aspire).
Im looking to upgrade the intake air system.
Im not going to opt for the usual cold air intake, as its benefits on HPs are known to be marginal only.....
I was wondering if anyone here ever tried to use a velocity stack.
They come into many diameters and lenghts, and they are relatively cheap too..
I would be really interested in working out the best dimension and get to install one.
Only problem is that they dont have any air cleaner built in, while I definitely I wanna keep one to protect my engine...
Any idea?
Have your say guys

[TominMO]

Unless you do an upgraded exhaust first, there will be little to no benefit to improving the intake flow. The only intake improvement worth doing with a stock exhaust is drilling holes in the bottom airbox piece for better high-RPM flow.

This is assuming you have EFI; but being Oz, do you have EFI or a carby in 1998? Still though, it would be the same advice--drill holes in the air cleaner housing of a carby.

[bhazard]

1998 would be EFI there. I believe only the "WA" series was carby.

I'm really not sold on the whole drilling the airbox thing. It's more noise.

[TominMO]

1998 would be EFI there. I believe only the "WA" series was carby.

I'm really not sold on the whole drilling the airbox thing. It's more noise.

Any improvement on the intake side would be more noise, other than simply replacing the air filter with a K&N unit (PN 33-2222 for those who are curious). Which is pretty much useless without removing the designed-in airbox restriction. And you only really notice the higher decibels on the intake when you floor it.

I maintain that the K&N filter is useless anyway, even with airbox mods, because even the stock paper filter will flow more air than the tubing between the airbox and the intake manifold can flow. In other words, a waste of $50. A dyno test might show a 1-2 HP increase for the K&N, but the butt dyno can't tell.

The single biggest restrictor is the airbox, by design for less noise. Without correcting this, there is no point in doing manifold-to-head port matching, or intake headwork. The connecting tubing you can't do too much about, because of the restriction of where it connects to the throttle body. You would have to find a larger and compatible throttle body.

[bhazard]

Maybe now that Charlie has a dyno in his shop, and a pristene bone stock Festiva, he can test some of that stuff.

[TominMO]

Maybe now that Charlie has a dyno in his shop, and a pristene bone stock Festiva, he can test some of that stuff.

That would be cool!

[getnpsi]

A shorter run to the valves promotes upper rpm breathing but the head needs to be worked over to enjoy it. You can't get the b3 to sing like a bike or race car and it be driveable around town either =/

There are air filter socks that slip over all those horns that filter the air. Most detailed pictures of the beautiful engines have them off, to show off the beautiful engines.

I've been a fan of aftermarket intakes or moving plumbing around for the extra room it frees up, not if I get any oomph. On a lot of the simple b series engine swaps on here, the battery can move R to L just by unraveling the wiring harness a few feet and adding a long Walmart garden tractor ground strap, and the intake can flip flop locations. Going aftermarket cleans it up. Over the 25 years of owning vehicles I have a lot of stuff left over and I can Implement something off a V6 Ranger, 22R, RX7 aspire Camry protege Accord, SRT4, Foxbody ETC ETC onto a different car for free... Missed a few.


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[theastronaut]

I added four velocity stacks. I haven't driven it yet but I'm fairly certain it will make more power than the stock intake system.

[drddan]

^^^ OK. That is totally BA! Didn't I see this on FB?

[CyberEric]

Any improvement on the intake side would be more noise, other than simply replacing the air filter with a K&N unit (PN 33-2222 for those who are curious). Which is pretty much useless without removing the designed-in airbox restriction. And you only really notice the higher decibels on the intake when you floor it.

I maintain that the K&N filter is useless anyway, even with airbox mods, because even the stock paper filter will flow more air than the tubing between the airbox and the intake manifold can flow. In other words, a waste of $50. A dyno test might show a 1-2 HP increase for the K&N, but the butt dyno can't tell.

The single biggest restrictor is the airbox, by design for less noise. Without correcting this, there is no point in doing manifold-to-head port matching, or intake headwork. The connecting tubing you can't do too much about, because of the restriction of where it connects to the throttle body. You would have to find a larger and compatible throttle body.

Tom, so the first restriction is the box, but if you solve that, you run into the restrictive throttle body?

Has anyone built a full intake (cone filter, larger dia tube) and done dyno testing? I imagine there are no tuners for our little Festivas doing this, so it'd have to be DIY.

Maybe they have and the throttle body and/or the intake manifold is the problem?

Thanks!

[CyberEric]

Are there no throttle body and intake manifold upgrades available? I'm new to these cars. I would think velocity stacks would be pretty expensive.

[theastronaut]

^^^ OK. That is totally BA! Didn't I see this on FB?

Yep, I'm on the facebook group and have posted it there.

[getnpsi]

Too large a throttle body messes up the around town and letting a wife or buddy hop in and borrow the car experience. Super touchy throttle combined with a worn out grabby clutch makes for a Biff from back to the Future only you can operate vehicle. Threw money away doing that on 5.0 mustang back in the day.

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[Glow_Mouse]

*Bump*

anything like this for the spire? Well, anything like that which will fit a b3? Omgg...
That is totally ba! I waaaant!

[Seraj89]

I added four velocity stacks. I haven't driven it yet but I'm fairly certain it will make more power than the stock intake system.

I remember seeing this on IG and Facebook. I'm sure it took a while to fit without hitting the firewall.